The Volkswagen Golf remains Europe’s best-selling car despite a sales decrease of 2.5% year on year in October and by 1.8% year-to-date. The Polo, with sales up by 1.2% in October, regained second place while the Ford Fiesta was third, selling 26,553 vehicles, JATO Dynamics said.

Of the five largest car markets in Europe, France, Germany and Great Britain saw an increase in sales during October while only France and Germany saw an increase year-to-date.

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Within the top 10 brands Volkswagen, Ford and Audi continued to perform strongly, with sales increases of 5.8%, 6.0% and 2.1% respectively last month. The remainder of the top 10 brands saw sales fall, including BMW and Mercedes, both of which have positive sales figures year to date.

Outside the top ten, Hyundai recorded a 17.5% increase with sister brand Kia booking a 23.5% increase in October and, year-to-date, the two brands were 12.7% and 7.7% ahead of last year. Land Rover sales grew 54.6% in October, largely driven by the new Evoque.

Within the top 10 models, Volkswagen’s Passat continued to be very popular, experiencing the biggest growth, up 48.4% in October and 35.1% year-to-date.

Gareth Hession, research chieft at JATO, said: “The decline in October sales may be slight but is evidence that the market is still at the mercy of European economic conditions. Despite this, however, positive sales of models such as the Passat demonstrate strong products are still appealing to customers across Europe.”

Sales by Market

Country

Oct_11

Oct_10

% Change Oct

Oct
YtD_11

Oct
YtD_10

% Change YtD

Austria

28,909

28,713

+0.7%

302,448

280,175

+7.9%

Belgium*

43,811

43,570

+0.6%

484,357

477,567

+1.4%

Cyprus

1,158

1,114

+3.9%

11,152

11,624

-4.1%

Czech Republic

14,858

13,126

+13.2%

142,343

138,782

+2.6%

Denmark

12,326

13,607

-9.4%

139,417

124,239

+12.2%

Estonia

1,523

1,067

+42.7%

14,245

8,575

+66.1%

Finland

10,055

9,538

+5.4%

110,074

97,581

+12.8%

France

176,103

171,950

+2.4%

1,837,374

1,829,440

+0.4%

Germany

258,253

256,775

+0.6%

2,659,989

2,423,627

+9.8%

Great Britain

134,944

131,495

+2.6%

1,688,038

1,767,154

-4.5%

Greece

5,021

7,822

-35.8%

84,115

130,242

-35.4%

Hungary

3,555

3,682

-3.4%

37,662

36,362

+3.6%

Iceland

319

125

+155.2%

4,401

2,697

+63.2%

Ireland

1,569

3,252

-51.8%

88,751

86,423

+2.7%

Italy

133,758

141,701

-5.6%

1,510,346

1,694,523

-10.9%

Latvia

974

577

+68.8%

8,751

4,911

+78.2%

Lithuania

1,180

943

+25.1%

11,147

6,270

+77.8%

Luxembourg

3,923

3,832

+2.4%

43,532

43,778

-0.6%

Norway

11,594

10,683

+8.5%

115,740

105,710

+9.5%

Poland

24,940

30,404

-18.0%

244,205

264,430

-7.6%

Portugal*

12,749

15,341

-16.9%

136,275

176,732

-22.9%

Slovakia

5,755

6,149

-6.4%

55,758

51,844

+7.5%

Slovenia

4,547

4,741

-4.1%

50,925

51,215

-0.6%

Spain

57,318

61,566

-6.9%

681,577

851,270

-19.9%

Sweden

25,052

26,420

-5.2%

252,688

233,162

+8.4%

Switzerland

26,306

23,918

+10.0%

254,038

238,458

+6.5%

The Netherlands

44,052

43,569

+1.1%

497,988

434,225

+14.7%

Grand Total

1,044,552

1,055,680

-1.1%

11,467,336

11,571,016

-0.9%

Source: JATO Dynamics (* Denotes estimated data used for October 2011)

Top 10 Brands

Make

Oct_11

Oct_10

% Change Oct

Oct YtD_11

Oct YtD_10

% Change YtD

VOLKSWAGEN

133,473

126,171

+5.8%

1,416,977

1,310,379

+8.1%

RENAULT

86,097

90,134

-4.5%

874,918

960,476

-8.9%

FORD

82,393

77,755

+6.0%

930,479

960,888

-3.2%

PEUGEOT

68,536

71,195

-3.7%

783,764

845,478

-7.3%

OPEL/VAUXHALL

68,318

69,515

-1.7%

838,523

831,127

+0.9%

CITROEN

58,557

65,180

-10.2%

657,152

712,270

-7.7%

AUDI

53,204

52,088

+2.1%

573,894

524,446

+9.4%

BMW

51,570

51,910

-0.7%

536,305

503,213

+6.6%

FIAT

49,394

56,624

-12.8%

588,871

713,056

-17.4%

MERCEDES

46,234

52,309

-11.6%

495,191

493,816

+0.3%

Source: JATO Dynamics

Top 10 Models

Make & Model

Oct_11

Oct_10

% Change Oct

Oct YtD_11

Oct YtD_10

% Change YtD

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF

38,076

39,035

-2.5%

413,156

420,913

-1.8%

VOLKSWAGEN POLO

29,199

28,858

+1.2%

301,721

300,640

+0.4%

FORD FIESTA

26,553

26,345

+0.8%

299,521

350,574

-14.6%

RENAULT CLIO

23,514

26,047

-9.7%

251,151

285,856

-12.1%

OPEL/VAUXHALL CORSA

22,774

19,679

+15.7%

265,369

267,308

-0.7%

VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT

20,954

14,118

+48.4%

216,044

159,897

+35.1%

RENAULT MEGANE

19,754

20,016

-1.3%

202,129

220,907

-8.5%

OPEL/VAUXHALL ASTRA

19,699

18,656

+5.6%

243,577

247,478

-1.6%

FORD FOCUS

19,545

18,758

+4.2%

241,993

224,234

+7.9%

PEUGEOT 207

17,776

20,665

-14.0%

209,049

259,138

-19.3%

Source: JATO Dynamics

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